Fractures of the tibial shaft conservatively treated.

Strict conservative treatment of fractures of the tibial shaft using traction when there is difficulty in restoring length or axis has given excellent radiological results with very little residual deformity and no serious complications, but only at the cost of doubling the number of days in hospital compared with more recent operative series. For the longitudinal fractures the time to bearing full weight is twice that of the series treated by operation.